Medicinals
mài dōng / 麦冬 / 麥冬 / ophiopogon [root];
Latin pharmacognostic name: Ophiopogonis Radix
Alternate English names: lilyturf [root]
Alternate Chinese names: 麦门冬 mài mén dōng
Origin: Plant
Use: medicinal
Category: Supplementing agents / Yīn-supplementing agents
Properties: Sweet, slightly bitter; slightly cold.
Channel entry: stomach, lung, and heart channels.
Indications:
- Nourishes lung yīn and clears lung heat: Yīn vacuity and lung dryness with heat, manifesting as cough, scant phlegm, coughing of blood, sore throat, and loss of voice.
- Boosts the stomach and engenders liquid: Stomach yīn vacuity with heat, manifesting in
dry tongue , thirst, stomach duct pain,hunger without desire to eat ,vomiting and retching , anddry stool . - Clears the heart and eliminates vexation: Heart yīn vacuity; evil heat entering provisioning in warm disease.
Dosage & Method:
Oral: 6–12g in decoctions. Traditionally, the core (心 xīn, literally ""heart"") is removed for clearing lung or stomach heat but is not removed when treating heart patterns.
Warning:
Contraindicated in spleen-stomach vacuity cold with reduced eating and sloppy stool, in wind-cold common cold, and in phlegm-rheum and damp turbidity.
Quality:
The best quality tubers are fat, light in color, and semi-translucent. They are soft and supple, have a sticky texture in the mouth, and give off a pleasant scent.
Product Area:
Zhèjiāng, Sìchuān, and less importantly Jiāngsū, Guìzhōu, Yúnnán, Guǎngxī, ānhuī, Húběi, Húnán.